Nov 1, 2012

Lasagna rolls are delicious and make perfectly portioned meals. I usually fill them with spinach in my popular spinach lasagna rolls but have been thinking of trying them with kale for a while. I can't think of a better way to eat kale! These were wonderful, everyone in my home loved them and I will certainly be making them again. Try them for meatless Mondays!

Sorry I haven't posted much this week. Hurricane Sandy did so much damage here on Long Island, and we are still without power. Many of my friends and neighbors lost their homes and cars, so I am grateful for the temporary inconvenience, I know it could have beena lot worse. It may be a while before we get our power back, but luckily I have a small generator which gives us just enough power to keep our refrigerators on, and limited access to some internet and television.

There is certainly no short supply of food in my house, thank God so we've been cooking up a storm! It's also the only way to keep the house warm as the temperature has been dropping and keep my sanity. If you make these, I would love to know how you enjoyed them!

Preheat oven to 350°. Ladle about 1 cup sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 12 baking dish.

Place kale in a food processor and pulse a few times until chopped.

In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Add garlic and sauté until golden, about a minute. Add kale, salt and pepper and sauté about 5 minutes. Add mushrooms to the pan, cook until soft, an additional 5-6 minutes. Adjust salt and pepper.

Place a piece of wax paper on the counter and lay out cooked lasagna noodles. Make sure noodles are dry. Take 1/3 cup of mushroom kale mixture and spread evenly over noodle. Roll carefully and place seam side down onto the baking dish. Repeat with remaining noodles.

Ladle 1 cup of sauce over the noodles in the baking dish and top each one with 1 tbsp mozzarella cheese. Put foil over baking dish and bake for 40 minutes, until cheese melts.

Makes 10 rolls. Serve with extra sauce on the side.

122 comments
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Gina I hope the power comes back on for you soon...this storm was so crazy, I would have never thought it would have been this bad. I am in Bay Ridge Brooklyn but very lucky we were not badly affected, only tons of trees are down but we did not loose power. I have a lot to be grateful for. I can't wait to make these lasagna rolls, I love kale and mushrooms! Thank you for all you do! <3 Dana

Seems like you found a great way to handle the time before things get back to normal. I've been mostly baking brownies, cookies and some rice krispies treats so thankful to have a healthy recipe. Do you have a suggestion of mushrooms to use? I like to use something more nutrient dense than button mushrooms but not sure what would taste good with spinach or kale?

So glad you're okay. My sister in law and her husband live in Long Island too. She had to go through her refrigerator and throw out all her perishable food today. Hopefully electricity comes back for all of you!

So sorry to hear that you are without power but happy to hear that you and your family are safe. Thank you for continuing to post recipes -- this one looks delicious! Just a note, I made your Chicken Pot Pie Soup last night and it was fantastic! And, the recipe makes so much! Can't wait to try this dish! Stay safe and warm!

You are a true trooper. We went through a similar situation in 2004 when we lived in Florida. No power for 6 days in the middle of the summer. Ugh! Thanks so much for your posts and your thoughtfulness. Keep safe, and I hope you get your power back soon.

Thank you for posting this tempting recipe - kale is the "in" veggie right now and this is a great way to try it! I am so glad for you and your family that you do not have to suffer the consequences of the storm - my heart goes out to the victims in prayer that God would give them all patience and mercy!

BTW - do you know of a good way to cook the lasagna noodles so they stay nice for the "roll"?

I'm glad that you and your family are safe and sound- I'm impressed that you've been able to pull together lovely meals like this one! My thoughts and prayers are with your community and everyone that was affected by the storm.

I made these last night and they were pretty good! I added extra garlic, a few shakes of Italian spices, and I used tomato basil marinara instead of plain sauce. I also added a tablespoon of sauce inside of each roll before rolling it up.

Gina, praying for everyone affected by 'Sandy' and thankful to hear that your family is alright. I'm so glad you posted to let us know you're ok, a little bit of 'normalcy' helps in times of disaster! Blessings to you all.

I made these last night. They were delicious and my husband and 18-month old loved them as well! I was wondering though: how do you prevent the exposed top lasagna edges from getting crispy in the oven? I left them in there for 35 minutes but they still crisped. Perhaps brush a little olive oil on top before placing marinara and cheese?

Prayers for your family and neighbors. Wish there was more we Midwesterners can do to help all of you East Coasters in need. I've been without power during ice storms, so I can relate to how unnerving it is.

Can't wait to try this recipe. Kale is my husband's new favorite vegetable. He keeps telling all his (red-neck) friends that they have to try kale!

This was delicious! You've turned a girl who could barely cook into someone no longer intimidated by it, constantly making new things, excited to try your recipes -- your blog gives anyone the ability to cook with ease and with health in mind. What you do is much appreciated.

I get one of those farmers baskets every week with different fruit and veg from a local farmer based on what the farm produces. I always get A LOT of kale, it's nice to have another delicious recipe to use it in.

I made this for dinner tonight and it was awesome. They are very filling, so one serving was perfect for me! I love your site; it is really helping me to keep my calories down while enjoy delicious meals. Thanks so much!

Your recipes are amazing!! I've made three of them this week, including this one and I'm so impressed! My kids (the pickiest eaters on the planet) ate your slow cooker pulled pork and loved it (I never hear those words in my house!)!!

My biggest problem is selecting which recipe to try next! Your directions are fantastic and I love that you indicate which recipes can be frozen (I love to double recipes for freezing a few meals for later).

I love this idea! I don't eat pasta, so I decided to make these into chicken rollatini using your spinach and parmesan rollatini recipe as a guide. DELICIOUS! I know it defeated the meatless nature of the recipe, but it was so tasty!

Hi Gina! I have a novice question for you. I would love to make this, but only have frozen kale on hand. I'm not the most inventive chef in the world which is why I come to you ;) Would frozen kale be ok?

Gina, these were awesome. Even my husband (who is not a veggie fan) really liked them. When I was chopping the kale, he was very suspicious, but he ate every bite! The 1/3 cup filling per roll up is perfect and they looked just like your photo. Thanks a bunch.

I made these yesterday. Since I was a bit distracted, I pulsed the kale with the mushrooms and sauteed them together. Subbed garlic powder (I know, shame). It's been decades since I've used regular lasagna noodles (having abandoned them for no-bake a long time ago), I neglected to be ready to use them when they were done. I'd set some aside on a plate and sprayed with a bit of oil, and the others I left in the pot - bad idea. Even so, the ones I managed to make correctly turned out delicious! Looking forward to leftovers.

I made these tonight for dinner and let me tell you they were fab! I used fat free cottage cheese (not a fan of ricotta) and added some mozzarella cheese to filling mixture. And I used frozen chopped spinach because I didn't have any kale. Finally, I omitted the garlic because it bothers my stomach. My husband and I loved them - he demanded I add this into our weekly dinner rotation! Oh, and I ate 2 because they were just too yummy!

I pre-made these this morning for my guy to pop in the oven when he gets home. I can't wait to try them. I had a teeny taste of the filling and was stoked. I love how perfectly the mixture divided up. I accidentally bought no-boil noodles so I soaked them in boiling water for 5 minutes to soften them for rolling. They weren't as long as the noodles pictured so the rolls don't look as big and pretty, but otherwise this was a fun meal to make. Thanks again.

Gina, thanks so much for this and all of your recipes--my boyfriend and I totally salivated over your chicken enchiladas and these roll-ups had my vegetarian best friend drooling when she came to visit this weekend!

Question for you (or anyone else): I want to make these for a friendsgiving I'm having next weekend, preferably ahead of time. a.) Think it will work to freeze them, and b.) think it would work to freeze them before baking? Do the whole recipe until baking time and then leave them in the freezer for 5 or so days?

These were delicious! I only had about 6 or 7 ounces of ricotta in the fridge (and didn't want to go out to buy more), so I used much less ricotta than called for, and it tasted great. So much more flavor than I expected. And since I used less ricotta, it was even less caloric but still yummy.

This was wonderful. I made this dinner for a friend and we both seriously considered second helpings. Lucky me we both passed and now I have leftovers! Truly a great flavor and wonderful for Meatless Mondays.

totally used this recipe as a guidepost - had chard in addition to kale so put them both in. Had no lasagne noodles so just used some whole wheat penne and made a "lasagne casserole". Didn't have marinara sauce exactly but had some kind of other tomato-y sauce that tasted great. The dish turned out EXCELLENT and so nutritious too with all of the greens and shrooms in there. Thank you! I'll be making this again.

I made this last night for our Valentine's Day dinner. I hate ricotta (or so I thought) and my kids hate mushrooms (or so they thought). I'd never cooked with kale so I was a little nervous about it as well. However, the final product was spectacular! Our store was out of the part skim ricotta so unfortunately I had to use the full fat polly-o (which I wasn't concerned with since I didn't think I would eat much due to the ricotta). I increased the garlic and added some crushed red pepper to both the marinara (your quick marinara) and I also added some to the kale/mushroom mixture while it was sautéing. I used baby bells as well. This was truly out of this world and even my 6 and 8 year old mushroom haters had 2 helpings! My husband was in heaven since he loves all the ingredients. What a special dinner this was! Served it with a side salad. Great job Gina!

I made this, this week. Only tip that might be obvious is to let the kale mushroom mixture cool before combining them. Ooops on my part. I opted to add a small amount of italian turkey sausage (mostly for my menfolk). Needless to say my family of five (including me ) LOVED it. It was totally worth all the effort. My 12 year old son asked me to make it again tonight while eating leftovers!

I made this and served to my in-laws tonight and it was a huge hit! My mother-in-law is an amazing cook so a huge compliment coming from her! It definely isn't a quick meal to prepare. I made it while my daughter was napping and had it ready to pop in the oven when everyone came over. Served with a big garden salad and garlic bread.

I made these for the first time the other day and WOW! Absolutely amazing. Family members who "don't like Kale or Mushrooms" were devouring the rolls. I plan on making a double batch this week so I can freeze some. Did anyone ever figure out the best way to freeze? I am thinking of fully cooking them and flash freezing then putting in individual zip-lock bags? Any suggestions? :)

I made these yesterday and they were SO good!! Filling, and bigger than expected size-wise. I would recommend throwing your mushrooms in the food processor for a few pulses instead of chopping. Chopping took forever. I also spread a thin layer of sauce on top of the filling before rolling them up.

I decided to make this last night and they turned out delicious. The only thing I will say if you are planning to try is do the prep work early or the night before. Finely chopping 5 cups of Kale takes time. Its was very yummy but it took some time to prepare and cook. Next time I will do this on the weekend instead of attempting on a weeknight after work!

These sound so Awesome can't wait to try them but I'll modify them a bit by another Great idea I saw using a cupcake pan and wanton wrappers, how cool does that sound! Just the thing I needed for our church social! I'll comment back on what everyone thought!

MY FATHER ATE KALE (breaking news around here). I am by no stretch of the imagination a good cook. Made this for my folks last night and it was great. Plan to use this as a 'take a meal' staple to friends going through difficult times.

In regards to the foil - I sealed mine around the edges of the dish, but tented it to keep it off the cheese, worked fabulously. I removed the foil with about 7 mins to go to try to brown some of the cheese, will remove earlier next time (10-12 mins?), but also used more cheese on top than called for, because, c'mon... CHEESE. Also, plenty left over for lunches throughout the week. 1 serving with a side salad was plenty for a meal.

Will try this with spinach as a filler, or substitute zucchini slices in lieu of the lasagna noodles. But this was great AS IS. Thank you for such a great recipe!